Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Pens Win. Pirates Win. Pittsburgh Wins.

Before this series started, I proclaimed that there was a good chance that the Penguins would put up 6 or more goals in one of these games. I gave the statistics, blah blah, whatever.

Pretty sure I'm going to be wrong on that. The Lightning are not in awe of the playoffs at all.

If any game was going to be that 6-0 or 7-1 rout, it would have been Game three. Pens came out strong, and then all hell broke loose. Not surprisingly, it was longtime Pens hater Steve Downie that provided the fireworks. Just so you remember...

...exactly what Steve Downie is about. Also remember that Downie was suspended for 20 games early in his career for a flying cheapshot to Dean McAmmond. Here's video of the hit:

Ouch. Of course, Talbot gets pissed off about the hit and roofs one on Roloson.

While we were all crying for a major penalty, Bylsma sends the fourth line out there. Oh, fourth line. Mike Rupp carries, kinda whiffs on the puck, but then makes a sweet little backhand pass to Asham who has apparently decided to start playing hockey. You start to think that this game COULD be that blowout game.

And then you remembered the Lightning have Martin St. Louis. That guy is a termite. You forget he even exists, then he chews a giant hole in your wall. He buries a power play goal and stops the momentum in its tracks.

Not sure who made this. Pretty sure it's awesome.

The second period happened. That was about it.

The third starts, St. Louis scores again, and you begin to wonder exactly how much Zbynek Michalek's stick in Game 1 pissed him off.

Side note: Zbynek Michalek may be the MVP of this series right now.

Anyway, after St. Louis scored for the millionth time, it starts to feel like a major meltdown could be coming. Cue Tyler Kennedy.

Just go to the net.

The last 15 minutes of this game lasted longer than a JAG marathon. Craig Adams' Mohawk blocks a shot to end it.

Other crap:

Downie and Chris Kunitz each will be receiving some sort of discipline from the league today. Don't know how I forgot to mention the Kunitz elbow. While not nearly as dangerous as the Downie play, it was equally as mindless.

No idea what Kunitz is thinking here. This is about as easy as it gets. It's a pretty delicate elbow, but it's still an elbow, and it's still ridiculously blatant.

Jesus, I've put like a billion YouTube videos in this post.

Gotta mention the fact that the Pirates won another road series. This is a damn impressive habit to get into. Bucs travel to Florida tonight. Let's go.